This week marks a year since the NSW government opened consultation on an Innovation Blueprint for the state.
That, in turn, was four months after NSW innovation, science and technology minister Anoulack Chanthivong first announced the project in September 2023.
The government had pledged to release it by July 2024.
But when Startup Daily asked the minister’s office in December last year when it would be released, the response was “first half of next year”.
A few days later, when minister Chanthivong announced the Sydney Startup Hub would be forced to relocate in October from the CBD to an undetermined site somewhere in the “Tech Central” area near Central Station, the government said the Innovation Blueprint would be “released in the coming months”.
Last week, the NSW opposition and crossbench in the Legislative Council decided they’d had enough waiting by Wednesday, forming a majority as parliament sat, to pass a motion calling on the government to produce documents on the project within 21 days.
Produce documents
Shadow assistant minister for the arts, innovation, digital government and the 24-hour economy, Jacqui Munro, successfully moved that the government reveal what’s been going on with the blueprint, with the Greens siding with the Coalition to seek all related documents since April 2023.
“I am deeply disappointed that the innovation ecosystem has been not only neglected under Labor but also damaged by a lack of engagement, confused process and delays. The value of the New South Wales startup industry is estimated to be around $72 billion. Over 2,900 current startups were born or are headquartered in New South Wales,” Munro said in support of the motion.
“George Peppou, the founder and CEO of Vow and project champion of the Innovation and Productivity Council, said: ‘Right now, NSW is not performing as well as it could in this global innovation market because it is not an environment that actively supports long-term success and prosperity’. Another project champion, Patricia Davidson—who is a professor and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong—said, ‘The time to act is now.’ The timeline for the Innovation Blueprint has been lengthy, which is unfortunate.”
Munro revealed that a consultant was paid between $100,000 and $150,000 to assist with the blueprint but that contract ended in September. The consultant was former Tech Council CEO Kate Pounder.
“Apparently drafts are floating around that are going to major news outlets and large tech organisations are still being consulted. There is just no clarity. The industry has been waiting two years for the Innovation Blueprint that has been promised by the Government, and nothing has come to pass,” Munro said.
“Startups have no plans that they can refer to and build their businesses against. We do not know what is happening with innovation precincts. There is simply silence. The yawning information gap means that this call for papers under Standing Order 52 is required to understand what the Government and the Minister have been doing.”
Claiming privilege
Greens MCL Cate Faehrmann supported the motion, but sounded a warning that the Labor government may still try to hide what’s going on.
“Let us see whether the Government claims that because the blueprint has not been released and is being considered by Cabinet it will not release any of it,” she said.
“That seems to be the modus operandi of the Government at the moment with calls for papers under Standing Order 52.”
Munro followed up on LinkedIn a few days later saying: “I don’t know what they have to hide, but you can bet that they will be trying to claim privilege and “cabinet in confidence” over the most damning documents. Which will further draw out the process to find out why on earth this thing has taken so long.”
In opposing the motion, government minister Penny Sharpe said the Liberals and Nationals failed to act during the previous three terms spanning 11 years to produce a blueprint
“It is appropriate that the Government should work to get this right. It is important that after 12 years we get a blueprint in place for the first time, and that is exactly what we are doing. I understand that the member is frustrated, though I give her points for continuing to push on this,” Sharpe said.
“But the point is that the Government is entitled to do proper consultation, which it is doing. We are entitled to draft work and to go back with that. I note that the member mentioned that other conversations are going on with those in the tech industry, because we continue to work with them as we finalise the blueprint. The Opposition might be frustrated by that, but we are working through it.”
Munro fired back that: “In our term we created the Sydney Startup Hub, the minimum viable product ventures grant and an entire ecosystem with grants, supports and investment. That meant startups and founders could have certainty of support throughout their involvement in the ecosystem—from the first-round, angel investor type relationships all the way up to massive scale-ups that contribute enormously to our economy and potentially become a unicorn like Atlassian and Canva. We certainly did have plans and we were implementing those plans.”
In the meantime, the NSW startup sector awaits the Innovation Blueprint, wondering if the government has been waiting for the trees they plan to print it on to grow.
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